Analysis of Abina Mansah v. Quimina Eddoo As argued by Olaudah Equiano, “I doubt not, if a system of commerce was established in Africa, the demand for manufactures would rapidly augment, as the native inhabitants would insensibly adopt the British fashions, manners, customs, etc.” (pg 181, WTWA). Equiano’s vision for a British Africa drove the colonization of West Africa and the creation of new plantations. In this new colony, there was the continued use of slavery until its abolishment by the Victorian empire. To a society who has always seen the value of using slave labor, the abolishment of slavery meant the complete change of their lives.
As the boom from the transatlantic slave trade was being put into a question of universal humanity and morality, millions of Africans were still being sold into a life of victimhood. Amongst those millions were freemen being stripped from their homes, because of their race, in the core and coastal regions of Africa. The Neirsee Incident occurred on, “January 21st, 1828” at a “British owned palm oil house near old Calabar” (Blaufarb and Clarke 71). The Neirsee as it was stopped at the port near the British owned palm oil house, was interrupted by a character name Feraud who “slipped out of old Calabar on the Neirsee”, where the ship was eventually seized after it had, “just loaded its human cargo” (Blaufarb and Clarke 72). The incident had led to innocent British citizens lives being sold into the slave trade.
During the time period of 1450-1750, there were many changes as well as continuities in the economy of the Atlantic world form. One main change during this time was, the involvement of trading European firearms and other foods. This diversified the initial upbringing of the Atlantic world trade, which was different from its original usage of exporting slaves, gold, salt, and other goods. But this was both a positive and negative change for the economical status of the Europeans earnings increased, but negatively as well as there were more weapons used for violence. In relation, a continuity that occurred through this time was the use of the Atlantic world for the trade of African slaves.
In Antebellum America, slavery was a common practice and way to increase economics in the south. In Walter Johnson book, Soul by Soul, he discusses life inside the antebellum slave market, and brings readers on a journey of the human drama of buyers, traders, and slaves. Johnson focuses his research on the New Orleans slave market, where more than 100,000 men, women, and children were priced and sold. He captures the attention of his readers by analyzing these chilling statistics and the brutal economics of trading. He utilized primary documents and accounts to support his research, in order to illustrate to readers how the slave market functioned first hand.
In the documents “Considering the Evidence: Voices from the Slave Trade” it shows how the Atlantic slave trade was an enormous enterprise and enormously significant in modern world history. In document 15.1 - The Journey to Slavery it talks about the voice of an individual victim of the slave trade known as Olaudah Equiano. Equiano was taken from his home and sold into the slave trade. He worked for three different families while in the slave trade but what is different about him is that he learned to read and write while being a slave. He traveled extensively as a seaman aboard one of his masters' ships, and was allowed to buy his freedom in 1766.
The Slave Ship, by Marcus Rediker was wrote in 2007 about the cruel and brutal actions the slaves endured on their journey across the Atlantic Ocean. He states, “this has been a painful book to write, if I have done any justice to the subject, it will be a painful book to read.” Marcus Rediker accomplished exactly that. This book was not only compelling but emotional, heartbreaking, and makes a reader think, how could someone be so cruel to another living being. Within the first couple pages, the book brought me to tears.
The detailed descriptions included in primary sources, along with the descriptive and emotional illustrations included in graphic history are crucial elements in studying and understanding the process and history of the transatlantic slave trade. Rafe Blaufarb and Liz Clarke tie both of these together to help readers truly understand this historic tragedy in the book, Inhuman Traffick: The International Struggle Against the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Although different than the standard book that may be used, that simply spews information out in an uncreative and somewhat boring way, this book is a tool that can be chosen in classrooms to teach different aspects of the slave trade. Working together, the primary sources and graphic history
This chapter addresses the central argument that African history and the lives of Africans are often dismissed. For example, the author underlines that approximately 50,000 African captives were taken to the Dutch Caribbean while 1,600,000 were sent to the French Caribbean. In addition, Painter provides excerpts from the memoirs of ex-slaves, Equiano and Ayuba in which they recount their personal experience as slaves. This is important because the author carefully presents the topic of slaves as not just numbers, but as individual people. In contrast, in my high school’s world history class, I can profoundly recall reading an excerpt from a European man in the early colonialism period which described his experience when he first encountered the African people.
In this article “African Dimensions Of The Stono Rebellion”, John Thornton a professor of history and African American studies, who wrote about the African slaves in the Americas, and specifically the servants in South Carolina during the early eighteenth century. In his writing, the author describes the personality of Africans and their desire to escape from slavery, going through obstacles on their path to freedom. John Thornton is primarily an Africanist, with a specialty in the history of West Central Africa before 1800. His work has also carried him into the study of the African Diaspora, and from there to the history of the Atlantic Basin as a whole, also in the period before the early nineteenth century. Thornton also serves as a consultant
In Sharon Draper novel ,Copper Sun, she explains the struggle of slavery through a slave's point of view. Amari ,the main character, is captured from Ziavi, forced to become a slave, and then later escapes. Amiari is captured by “Men with skin like sheep” and sold into slavery where she meets Pollie who is a indictured girl that later became friends with Amari. Amari and Polly decides to escapes after a horrible event takes place. In Draper’s historical fiction novel Amari will learn the hardships of being a slave.
During the slave trade it was inhumane and violence, million of African people and children were taken away from their home to work in the new world. The slave trade took away many productive workers from Africa which they are skilled in farming and other establishment. The captain of the ship would try to enlarge their profit by trying to fit as many slaves as possible in the new world. Sometime slaves are captured and placed into dungeon with other captives. People would protests to be released but the two kings was corrupted and demanding
This excerpt is extremely important because it makes us better understand the status of African people, subdued by the European nations, and how the concept of slavery was perceived and addressed by
Leonard Outhwaite in his book The Atlantic: A History of an Ocean (1996) presents the Atlantic and how humans have interacted with its waters. In Orlando Patterson’s book Slavery and Social Death (2006), Patterson explains what slavery is and how it has manifested in history. Both Patterson and Outhwaite (1996) address the Atlantic Slave trade with similar content, but they diverge in regard to who they were writing for, and in what they wanted to impress upon the reader. The comparison of the two texts reveals that Outhwaite gives a more detailed portrayal of how the Atlantic slave trade changed throughout its history. Both Patterson (2006) and Outhwaite (1996) target an academic audience, but Outhwaite writes for academics that are interested
The article first of all describes the early years of slaves and colonization. This is further linked to the remarkable resurgence of focus on the national histories of the new world colonies. For instance many histories have argued that the nature of colonization during such times (17th and 16th) centuries as well as the modes of economic production then. For instance, in the article, Immanuel Wallerstein argues that the Americas were peripheral zones of capitalist expansion. As such, there were several elements of using slavery as a form coerced labor.
By using this reference, it illustrated the severity of the alienation of blacks in the Southern United States. In 1619, a Dutch ship “introduced the first captured Africans to America, planting the seeds of a slavery system that evolved into a nightmare of abuse and cruelty that would ultimately divide the nation”. The Africans were not treated humanely, but were treated as workers with no rights. Originally, they were to work for poor white families for seven years and receive land and freedom in return. As the colonies prospered, the colonists did not want to give up their workers and in 1641, slavery was legalized.
